Chapter 17

The following new character appears in this chapter:

Prince Krom Luang Wongsa Dhiraj Snid

Thai Physician and Diplomat, 49th son of King Rama II, 5’-7’’ tall, 165 pounds, 47 years old in 1855, a receding hair line going gray and brown eyes

As we neared the camp headquarters building, we could see a very impressive looking coach parked outside of it along with a number of horses that were larger than the normal Thai horses. We also saw that their tack appeared to be of very expensive quality but was a bit garish. We also noticed that those handling the horses weren’t the usual underage recruits, but appeared to be members of the Commander’s guard.

As we dismounted, a number of the more usual underage recruits appeared to take charge of our horses.

“It would appear that a very important visitor has arrived,” Prawit told me quietly as he eyed the brightly painted coach, but was unable to identify who it belonged to.

“Hurry!” the messenger implored us when we stopped to look at the coach after handing our reins to the recruits.

There were a half dozen guards on the door to the headquarters building today, but on seeing the messenger, they didn’t stop us, There was no greeter inside, and we proceeded to the second floor immediately where we were met by Major Werachon.

“Good, you are at least presentable,” he said on seeing us. I had on one of my camouflage uniforms that Ratana had washed, starched, and ironed in addition to my beret, shined boots and my pistols. Captain Prawit was dressed in a regular Siamese Army Officer’s uniform that had also been ironed, and a fairly new pair of sandals. “There will be a wait of a few minutes. The Colonel is in conference with the visitor,” he finished.

As the Major moved to continue his nervous pacing, I saw the Chief Medic behind him. He smiled at us and moved over toward us. The messenger had hastily departed after delivering us to the Major.

“Your men did a very good job treating the dazed and injured soldiers last evening,” he told us very quietly. “I wish the rest of those here were as well trained,”he finished in a near whisper.

The wait turned out to be more than a few minutes, but eventually the doors to the Commander’s office opened, and we all entered. There to greet us were Colonel Kampon, Governor Hemsamahan, and a short somewhat stout gentleman in very rich looking clothing, along with two Siamese military Officers of the rank of Major plus another nondescript civilian male. The Colonel made the introductions.

“Gentlemen, this is His Royal Highness Prince Krom Luang Wongsa Dhiraj Smid, he is a physician of considerable note. He is also His Majesty the King’s half-brother and the Minister of the Interior,” the Colonel informed us before adding, “these other gentlemen are two of his military advisers and his secretary.”

Captain Prawit, the Chief Medic, and I all Sawat Deed, gave a very high and respectful wai and a deep bow. The Colonel then introduced us to the Prince.

“Your Majesty, these are our Chief Medic, the Commander of the Ranger School, and the Chief Ranger Trainer who was sent here by His Majesty the King,” the Colonel told him. There was a passing look of confusion on the Prince’s face on hearing this last, but it only lasted for a second.

The Colonel then proceeded to other business, as he was anxious to get to why we had been summoned here.

“You were not brought here to meet the Prince, as great an honor as that is. You were summoned here to explain the events of last evening, and the death of Captain Propai Mahan Khun. What have you to say about that Captain Prawit?” he demanded.

“There is little that I can tell you of the initial event. At the time, I was leading half of the Company back to our area on completing five days of field exercises, but I was separated from the Chief Ranger Trainer, who had the other half of the Company. We heard the thunder, but were still deep in the jungle area and didn’t see the lightning or receive any of the rain or hail,” Captain Prawit explained. All of those there turned to look at me.

“As the Captain stated, we were returning from five days of field exercises. I had two of the Platoons with me,” I started and went on to explain about sighting the storm, the lightning, and the rain and hail before moving on to discovering the bodies.

“And you would have us believe that Captain Prapai died from the lightning strikes?” the Colonel demanded in an angry voice.

“Please, krup!” the Chief Medic interrupted. “The Captain’s body was cooked like a buffalo or a pig on a spit. It had to have been a very powerful lightning strike that killed him,” he finished.

“Then why were his body and his clothes all burned? I have never heard of that being done by lightning,” the Colonel retorted angrily.

“When I turned the Captain over, there were two broken bottles of Makhong under him. It burns with a very intense flame,” the Chief Medic explained.

“How would it have been ignited?” the Prince asked breaking into the conversation.

“I believe that it could have been ignited by the second lightning strike which I was told followed shortly after the first, Your Highness,” the Chief Medic answered. “That would also explain how the others were burned, though not as badly as the Captain,” he finished.

“Yes, I examined the body of the late Captain at the Chief Medic’s request earlier this morning. It was the worst case of lightning death that I have ever seen. It had to be caused by an exceptionally strong lightning strike to literally cook the body, as the Chief Medic has stated. It’s obvious that the man was already dead before the fire started,” the Prince finished. The Colonel looked rather unhappy on hearing this since he didn’t dare accuse the Prince of being wrong.

“There is still the question of what Captain Prapai and a part of his unit were doing out there at that time of day. There was no field training scheduled for his unit yesterday,” Major Werachon brought up.

“What of the Platoon Leader? What has he said?” the Colonel demanded.

“He is one of those who was near the Captain and was also burned. He is recovering, but isn’t able to answer questions yet,” the Major pointed out.

“I also examined those burned. From what I have seen in other cases and have had related to me by other physicians, it appears that they were burned by the second lightning strike. It is something that has been called a secondary effect, as it apparently comes from being close to the object struck,” the Prince injected.

“I was able to question the Platoon Sergeant. He was only slightly wounded by the secondary effect that His Majesty mentioned and by the hail, which was very heavy during the storm.

“He told me that the Captain had told them that they were going out to practice volley firing, as he wasn’t happy with their last performance at the range. The Sergeant did say that he thought it strange that the area chosen to do this was out in the tall grass, and that they needed to make a clearing off of the trail to set up in.

“Before leaving the site last evening, I had every one of their weapons tested before moving them back to their unit. Every one of them was loaded; they had been prepared to fire at something... !” the Major finished without specifying who or what. The Colonel looked very angry on hearing these remarks.

“How far did you say you were from where the lightning struck?” one of the Majors accompanying the Prince asked me after a few seconds.

“About 40 Sen, krup, “ I answered.

“And would this trail from the trees have taken you past this place?” he continued.

“It not only would have, it did. That was how we found it, as some of the men smelled something burning, but we initially thought it could be a grass fire,” I told him.

“That is very suspicious,” the Major said and stopped there for a time. “I could almost consider it an attempted ambush,” he finally said. The Colonel looked very shocked on hearing this, but Major Werachon only smiled a very faint smile.

“Is your training finished now?” he asked when no one said anything further for a short time.

“Yes, there will need to be some retraining to go over weak areas to reinforce them, but that can be addressed when the men return from the time off that is planned,” I told him.

“That is the point that I was coming to,” Major Werachon said after a pause. “When you first briefed us on this unit, you stated that on completion of the training that you were planning, and I quote here ‘some real world exercises’. What are these exercises, as you also said that you would require the Governor’s permission to undertake them?” he finished. Everyone was looking at me again even Captain Prawit.

“The operation that I envisioned was the removal of those bandits preying on travelers between Bangkok and Korat. As you are aware, the Governor’s daughter and her escort were attacked by them. Also a monk who I spoke to on the way here wasn’t the least bit surprised when informed that Chanthra and I had lost our transportation on the way here,” I told them.

“You would require more than my permission for something like that. There are a number of provinces between Bangkok and Korat. I could only give you permission to operate in Nakhon Ratchasima Province,” the Governor told me with a frown.

“The Governor is correct, he could not authorize that, as he doesn’t have the authority. I, however, do have the authority as Minister of the Interior. Also my Escort Commander reported to me on the way here several instances of sightings of groups of men lurking near the road who disappeared when the escorts approached them. Since I have a large escort, we were not attacked. A number of those in the escort have the multi-shot pistols as you do,” the Prince told us and followed that with, “May I see one of them?”

I withdrew the pistol from my left holster and handed it to him. It was the one that I had used last evening to signal Captain Prawit with, and it had not been reloaded yet. I had wiped down the outside of both pistols and oiled them and their extra cylinders last night at home, as I had done each night during the field exercises.

“I’ve never seen one like this before, how did you obtain it?” the Prince asked after examining it for a time.

“It’s an experimental model. I know the designer, who is also the manufacturer, and he allowed me to have a pair to test. I will report on how they perform when I see him again,” I told him.

“And how have they performed so far?” he asked.

“They have performed very satisfactorily so far,” I told him.

“Tell me about the attack on the Governor’s daughter and your part in it,” he asked next, and I explained how Chanthra and I had become involved with her on her return journey to Korat.

“And this unit that you have trained, what is so special about it?” he asked next, and I went on to explain about the Rangers and the training that the men had received here. It required some time for both explanations.

“I would like to see these men who you are obviously so proud of,” the Prince said after I had finished. I thought the Colonel would have a heart attack when he heard that.

“Your Highness, I’m afraid that the unit is in disarray at present. The men have just returned from five hard days in the field last night, and there is field gear and laundry hanging everywhere to dry. It is not an inspiring sight presently,” I told him.

“All the more reason to see the unit now, to see how they have taken care of their equipment. It’s easy for a unit to look good with plenty of time to prepare, but that is not always the best way to evaluate a unit. How a unit or organization deals with adversity is often more enlightening,” he told me before saying, “let’s be on our way,” as he rose from his seat.

There was pandemonium when we all emerged from the building, as the horse handlers and a part of the Prince’s escort and his driver came to attention. The Prince, the Governor, and the Colonel all rode in the coach. The remainder of us mounted our horses. I again thanked the new recruit who had watched mine. His smile of gratitude was very real as was his quick ‘krup’ of thanks. Major Werachon mounted the extra horse that the messenger had brought, which was still there.

“Lead the way,” one of the Prince’s military advisers told Captain Prawit and me, and we started back to the unit with the coach directly behind us and followed by a part of his escort.

“I hope that Chatchai has gotten the place cleaned up some,” Prawit said to me quietly as we rode toward the unit. I had also been worried about that until my amulet warmed up on my chest.

As we approached the unit a few minutes later, even I was surprised by what I saw, for there on the company street was the entire unit drawn up in formation and standing at attention waiting for us. Even the cooks were present on the end of the formation. Most surprising of all, Chanthra was standing near the first building with a smile on her face.

On arriving, Captain Prawit quickly dismounted and hurried to take Command of the unit from Lieutenant Chatchai who took his place at the head of his platoon. I had joined Chanthra near the barracks. I didn’t have time to say anything before she did.

“Did you think that the Amulets wouldn’t know of the Prince’s arrival last evening at the Governor’s house and couldn’t guess or influence what he would do today?” she asked with a smile. I had only managed to hide my surprise at her words and turn to face the arriving visitors when Captain Prawit called the unit to ‘Present Arms’ as the Prince, the Governor, and the Colonel approached the unit to receive their salute.

The Colonel took command of the unit and gave them ‘Order Arms’ and then ‘Parade Rest’ before introducing the Prince and the Governor both of whom spoke to the men for a short time before the unit was brought back to attention and returned to Captain Prawit’s control. He, the Colonel, the Governor, and the Prince then inspected the First Platoon before the unit was released to return to their previous duties. The men had definitely been impressed that Prince Krom Luang Wongsa had visited their unit and spoken to them.

Once the men had returned to their duties and were turning their weapons in, the Prince accompanied by Captain Prawit, came over to speak to Chanthra and me.

“Your unit appears to be in remarkably good condition for just having returned from the field,” he remarked to Prawit and me.

“An indication of their high unit morale, hard work, and their ‘can do’ attitude, Your Highness,” I told him as he turned to look at Chanthra.

“And who is this young lady?” he asked.

“Your Highness, may I present Chanthra who will be my wife shortly, and who is a teacher of the Amulets,” I informed him. A smile spread across his face on mention of the Amulets. Meanwhile, Chanthra had Sawat Deed, waied and bowed deeply to him while he smiled.

“Things become much clearer now. You should have mentioned the intervention of the Amulets earlier. I have visited their Wat near Bangkok and was very impressed with their facility for pregnant women, but also with their devotion to those that they serve,” he told us before indicating that he had other business to attend to that day and a schedule to keep.

“I will issue a decree that will allow you to hunt for these bandits in any province between Korat and Bangkok. It will be effective for two months. Will that be a sufficient amount of time?” he inquired.

“That should be more than sufficient, Your Highness,” both Prawit and I told him with a very respectful wai and a deep bow. He was soon back in his coach with the Governor and the Colonel, before they and the escort were soon gone. Major Werachon had remained though.

“I will see that you receive the decree and what help we can give you,” he told us before he also left.

It was by now past time for the midday meal. That would take a short time yet since the cooks had been interrupted to attend the formation. Chanthra also needed to return.

“I will see you at the house when you are finished,” she told me before she disappeared. She had also interrupted her classes that day and needed to return to the Wat to reassure them that the interruption was only temporary.